Mid Year Check In - 2012 Goals

It's June. You know what that means, folks. It's time for a mid-year check in. You know, like they do at work....In January of this year, I wrote a post detailing my 2012 goals. Unrelated: Mileage for the year, as of 6/5/12 is 482. Not too shabby. Without further ado--here are my goals for the year and how I'm doing, score included. First, the big goals:

*Train year round-for the entirety of 2012
....Killing it. I've trained like clockwork all 6 months of the year so far. And I just finished my training  schedule through October so I'm definitely on track to meet that goal! 4/5 Exceeds Expectations.

*Run 1 race per month - 12 races for 12 months
....Done and done! Jan and Feb were 5k's, Mar, April and May were half marathons. I also have my race schedule all mapped out till the end of the year so that one is in the bag as well, if all goes according to plan. 5/5 Outstanding


*Run at least 3 half marathons
....Already done and planning on two more at least before the year's end. 5/5 Outstanding.

*Run my first full marathon
.....Planning to run the Portland Marathon on October 7th. 26.2 - bring it! 3/5 - Meets Expectations, but only b/c I haven't started training for it and it's still a few months out.

*Become more social with my running
.....Getting there. I joined a Ragnar Relay team for NW Passages in July so there is 11 other running obsessed people I've brought into my life so far...Meeting more runners to race with -- but I need to make more plans to run with folks when I'm not racing. Will keep me from getting too complacent in my routine. 3/5 Meets Expectations.

So far so good. Tracking to meet these goals, without question. I love it when I actually accomplish stuff!

Now, on to the mirco-goals:

*PR's throughout the year
.....So far so good. Every half marathon brings me a better time. Went from a 2:22 my first half to 2:05 in the last one....aiming to hit a sub 2 hour half by years end. Totally gonna nail it. 5/5 Outstanding.

*Pacing--staying consistent and pushing it down to the 8-9 min range
.....Getting there. See above....last half pace averaged 9:36 -- down from 11:08 in my first half. Speed work helps, even though it's a major bitch. 3/5 Meets Expectations

*Doing more consistent speed work
.....Haven't done as many of these workouts as I'd hoped, see above. But I am definitely seeing the benefits so will continue to try to get these in done every other week as planned. 3/5 Meets Expectations

*Cross Training- I wanted to incorporate it into my training
.....Really didn't do much until the last month or so. I really wanted to do yoga and strength training more often but it just hasn't happened. In the last month though, I've been really consistent about getting in some arm/ab work in at least 5 days a week. Can already tell the difference in muscle tone and overall feeling of strength. Will definitely keep at it, as that will only help me bring that pace down further. 2/5 Needs Improvement.

*Blogging-Wanted to figure out not suck at it
.....Getting there! Learning as I go. Did some updates last weekend and love the new look. Going to keep trying new things and teaching myself as much as I can.3/5 Meets expectations.

*Eating Better
......Still continuing to lose the weight I gained after quitting smoking....down about 30 lbs and working on fitting into all my old clothes. Doing better but still not where I'd like to be. Can't be good at everything, right? 2/5 Needs Improvement.

*Taking better care of my body-enough sleep, vitamins, learning how to use the dreaded foam roller, get regular massages
......Working on it. Figured out the foam roller and it's my new BFF. Wish I could afford a massage every month, but I'll have to settle for paying/bribing my daughter to rub my shoulders every now and then. 3/5 Meets Expectations

So there it is. On track to meet many of these goals and I think I will definitely make some serious gains in my running this year.

That's a Wrap...

Man Up Month has concluded. I am proud to say that I celebrated Mother's Day in PR City! 2:05:44 was my official time. A PR of over 5 minutes. Boo Ya! Full recap to come. But first, a nap.

Week 15 in Review --13 Days until Heroes Half

 

There was some serious plague-like germs around me this week....but I didn't get sick! Two co-workers had pneumonia, strep and influenza B in their homes; my kid was down and missed school for three days of cold complete with a fever. Knock on wood, I didn't/haven't yet gotten it.

Monday 
I felt kind of nasty and came home early to keep an eye on the Girl, since her fever was pretty high. Missed my run but was able to make up the mileage so all was not lost.
3 miles easy
Rest

Tuesday
Doubled up today to get nearly 6 in to make up for Monday's missed run. Felt better, although the Girl was not....she actually didn't have a fever all day until the late afternoon when it started creeping up again.
5.4 mi; 47:21; 8:46

Wednesday
Tempo run...nailed it. Felt good too. This week was muggy though. Went out in a tank every day.
5.86 mi; 57:05; 9:45

Thursday
Nice easy 3 miler to round out the week.
3.46mi; 33:08; 9:34

Friday
Rest day.

Saturday
Long run...got out early to enjoy the sunshine and was down to my tank top by mile 1.5. Beautiful day and a very nice run. Ice bath after felt good too.
11.01 mi; 1:55:47; 10:31

Sunday
Rest day....still pretty sore from yesterday. Two weeks until my next race! Got to stay healthy so I can keep up the training level...28 miles planned for next week!

Fast Forward-Week 14 in Review

 

Great week. I hit every day exactly as planned and the weather is starting to get more....spring-like. It's amazing the confidence I get from nailing a week. Got up early for two and ran after work for the other two. And Saturday's long run was....well I ended up stripping down to just my tank top. It was really clear and sunny out. And there were dozens and dozens of bikers and runners out enjoying it with me.

So clear....the Mountain even made a special appearance.

That was the end of the week....earlier in the week, Tuesday to be exact, it was a different story. It was a little sunny, a little cloudy and I was enjoying a nice after work run. In the middle, I started getting pelted by freezing rain, but I didn't mind too much since the final mile home looked like this:

Double rainbow!!

Monday

Last week was post MI half recovery week -- a nice and light 16 miles. This week bumped back up to normal--as I am now 3 weeks out from the Heroes Half Marathon on 4/29.

3.49 mi; 34:32: 9:54

Tuesday

Nice after work run that started off sunny, got a little freezy and wet in the middle and ended with a sparkly double rainbow. Not bad, mother nature, not bad.

4.29 mi; 55:39 (stopped to take pics more than once, forgot to pause); 12:58

Wednesday

Tempo run....really ran hard on this one and nailed my splits for the middle three miles (9:31; 9:50; 9:55). Felt really good afterwards but definitely a bit sore.

4.93; 48:48; 9:54

Thursday

Did back to backs for this one...yesterday's run was after work and this one was early a.m. Felt pretty good....

3.5 mi; 34:17; 9:49

Friday

Much needed rest day. Legs were a little sore from increasing mileage back up to the mid twenties after taking it easy last week. 

Saturday

Beautiful day...warm, sunny and in the 60's. Felt pretty good and made sure I kept hydrated. 

10.23mi; 1:49:29; 10:42

Total for Week 14: 26.44 miles

Officially two weeks into Training Cycle #3. Well, what I am calling all one cycle but it actually includes 3 half marathons. Details on that to come!